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Really, I actually am asking this question.

I’ve been looking into how to set up and efficiently run an engaging Google+ account. It looks cool, but also rather time absorbing. Twitter, Facebook and a blog already suck up enough of my writing time.

Then there’s Pinterest. According to the research I have been doing about my target audience, I should really get onto Pinterest. That’s where ‘they’ say a whole bunch of mid-20’s to mid-30’s women hang out. It has also been said that this form of social media is highly addicting… again, Twitter, Facebook and a blog already cut into my writing time.

But, if I added another social media forum to my routine, then it just might force me to actually establish a routine. That wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Hmmm…

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What do you think?

Have you successfully added either, or both, of these to your social media life and survived?

. Do you have other advice for a broke author planning her first launch?

As a broke, green as the grass in mid-July first time author, I tackled the daunting assignment of launching a book like any other able-minded individual in North America.

I googled ‘book launch.’

In .02 seconds, reputable results-driven marketing and publicity firms jumped into my line of vision. These people surely could launch my book into the stratosphere!

But after some number crunching and a realistic talk with my husband about where hiring a publicist falls in the needs of a family of six (braces, soccer, therapy, FOOD), I conceded. We could not hire help for Sun Shine Down.

These days, whether we sign with a big publisher, a small press, or self-publish, we bear much of the responsibility for launching our own books…

I don’t know about you, but when I started on this journey toward building an author’s platform I dove straight into research. I tried to learn about how to it all, find tricks to get more people to follow me, absorb ways to simplify my daily routine.

It was mind boggling.

It still is in many ways.

The more I learn, the more I know that I don’t know everything.

What I do know, is that this is a long learning process, and trying to understand it all on one week is just going to give you a headache and sore eyes.

When it all boils down, you only really need to keep 4 things in mind when handling your social media accounts…whichever kinds you prefer working on.

Just remember Y.I.C.K.

Be You. Be Interesting. Be Consistent. Be Known. That’s it.

I’ll try to explain the ideas in just a couple paragraphs each.

Be You

First off, you are the only one of you on the entire planet. Only you have your exact experiences, talents, thoughts and dreams. Use them to your advantage. Tell people that your latest short story came from a crazy dream you had last week. Or that you’ve always wanted to go to Portugal and are secretly saving change in a jar for your trip ‘some day’.

Secondly, trying to keep up a persona, a fake, always happy version of you, would get exhausting (and boring) after a while. Everyone has bad days. Everyone falls behind their writing schedule, drops something large on their foot, or has a crazy day or experience with their kid or a pet. Use those moments to humanize yourself. Don’t complain or whine all the time, and try to keep it in a humorous light, but keep people in the loop on at least one aspect of your real life.

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Be Interesting

Don’t just post links to your latest blog post, or only talk about your writing. Other people write cool, relevant blog posts too. And your friends on social media would love it if you would occasionally Tweet about how much you liked their latest book. Find short quotes which either uplift, are funny, or address one of your blogging subjects. Share silly facts, jokes, or anecdotes.

Go multimedia. I’m not saying you need to hire someone to help you make a video all about yourself. YouTube is your friend! Post the song that you’ve been listening to which really gets you into a certain character’s head. Did a certain video make you laugh uncontrollably? Paste the link into a Tweet. The rest of us could use a good laugh, too. Post photos of your work space, you pet looking innocent, your cover, your writer friend’s new cover (with their permission), your kid sleeping on the couch after a rough war with that chocolate bar they stole from your ‘secret’ drawer.

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Be Consistent

If you say you’re going to do it, do your darndest to make it happen.

Try not to abandon any account for more than a couple days at a time. Even if you only put up a new blog post once a week, go in a couple other days a week to respond to comments, or Tweet it out again.

There are several programs which allow you to schedule Tweets. WordPress has a post scheduler. Facebook will let you schedule updates on your author page. If you have to be out of town, or just need a couple days to relax and regroup, take an hour or so and make sure that something new will pop up at least once or twice a day on each of your social media sites.

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Be Known

It will take a while (a few months at the very least). For a time you will feel as though you’re just sending your blog posts, Facebook updates, and Tweets into a hope sucking black hole. Don’t give up. After a bit others will begin to respond to your thoughts, posts, and questions.

Just wait until you laugh with delight the first time someone (other than a family member) comments on your blog. You’ll be hooked.

I still haven’t reached the minimum of what some people say you should have to be somebody. But I am happy with the progress I have made since last November. Remember to acknowledge the work you have done. Celebrate each new milestone. Dance around the room when you’ve published your 50th blog post. Go get ice cream when you reach 200 followers on Twitter. These things have take a lot of work. Don’t let that grumpy Gus in the back of your mind steal the joy of your accomplishments.

Hi All!

So here is the second post which I warned you about.

This one is all about my drinking, swearing, fun on the outside, tough on the inside friend Laura Oliva.

Here’s how she describes her writing:

I write tender love stories about tough people. You won’t find any candy-coating here. The men are men, the women are badass, the dirt is dirty, the whiskey is strong. Things aren’t always roses and sunshine.

But sometimes life’s more fun that way.

She has finished writing her second novel, and received the cover art for it a couple days ago.

Laura is super excited about it, and couldn’t wait another week to get it out there for all her fans to see.

Here it is!

What The Body NeedsBy Laura Oliva

And the blurb! Don’t forget to read the blurb:

Jak O’Mara is a survivor.

She’s survived in her father’s construction company. She’s survived in the boxing ring. And she survived the brutal attack that left her permanently scarred.

For the last five years, she’s tried to convince everyone -including herself- she’s no victim. But with the apparent return of her unknown assailant, the life she’s rebuilt crumbles overnight.

Ex-cop Marcus Cutter has his own scars, they just don’t show. Following the violent death of his younger sister, he fled his old life in disgrace. After almost six years, “rock-bottom” feels a lot like home.

As Jak’s new bodyguard, Marcus is forced to return to the city -and the memories- he’s tried to forget. All he wants is to do his job, but Jak isn’t what he expects. When he’s with her, he finally feels something besides pain.

When the danger escalates, Jak decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands. She’s going to find who’s after her, no matter the cost. Marcus knows he has to protect the woman who’s made his life mean something again. But how do you protect someone who’s convinced they have nothing left to lose?

And you can get her first bookhere. It’s currently available for $1.99 in e-book form only. So far, anyway. 🙂

I think she’s also on pintrest and something else, but my poor old computer is telling me it’s had enough of looking up social sites today so you’re on your own there.

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I enjoyed All That Glitters, and I can’t wait until What The Body Needs is also in my Kindle PC (and on my phone. Cause, really, you never know when that grocery check-out line will last more than two and a half minutes. lol).

At least it’s done in nice shades of grey. Less likely to clash with my very expensive, highly thought out wardrobe. (You’re catching the sarcasm there, right?).

On the plus side, maybe this ouch will heal a little faster.

On the down side it really is next to impossible to use on a keyboard.

I know, I know. Rest the wrist. But darn it! I have so many words and ideas that need to be captured!

Tomorrow I may do a little exploring on this poor old computer (I love you. Please keep working.) and see if I can dredge up Acer’s version of speech-to-text. It’s not the greatest thing, but it’s better than 8 words a minute. lol

Well, I am just plain tuckered out. So I’m going to head for my pillow and pray I don’t beat myself to death in my sleep with a store-bought version of a velcro-on cast.

A sister talked me into watching Constantine when it first came out. *shudders* At the end of the movie she had bruises in her thigh from where my fingers had latched onto her. I was jumpy for months afterward.

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Does anyone want to write this for me?

I have already handed a couple synopsis of other dreams to that sister and her husband. They’re so busy I’m not sure when those stories will get done. So I guess I’m in the market for someone who would be willing to take this idea and run with it.

If there’s anyone out there who has always wanted to write the next Alien/Arachniphobia/Independence Day all rolled into one give me a holler in the comments below, or on Twitter, or Facebook, or by tin can.

We’ll see if we’re compatible, and what you think of an abbreviated synopsis. (Why is the word abbreviated so dang long?!)

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I realize that this is not the normal channel for finding a writer, but I am not normal, and I’m not really looking for normal. This bookwould not be normal!

Also, I will not be able to afford an up-front fee…yeah, sooo that right there is going to cut the throngs of potential authors back by a good, oh…100%.

I have been doing a little happy dance about every ten minutes throughout the day. Why? Because my little social media empire is growing consistently, I have friends on Twitter and Facebook who make me laugh so hard my husband gets concerned for my mental state, and the dogs have been semi obedient today (for me, anyway).

It’s not technically my happy dance, though.

You see when I was a teenager we had some friends who had three little ones. We (my 3 sisters and I) were always over at their house. One of their children was named Annie. She was a beautiful, happy little girl. After a while we began to notice a little habit of hers. Whenever she would get a yummy treat, or hear some good news, she would do this little dance just with her shoulders. It became known as the ‘Annie Happy Dance’.

That’s my little happy dance.

Giant grin on my face, pointing at my computer screen, then the shoulders start to wiggle, alternating up and down. Yup. I know how to party.

Of course as the news gets better it is not unusual to see me do a fist pump, or a little cha-cha around the living room (“Latest post — Three more likes. Latest post — Three more likes.”).

Gotta get my exercise in somehow, right? 🙂

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What has me so excited, you may ask. Well, my dearest reader, I got three visitors on my other blog on it’s very first day.

“Other blog?! You’re two timing us??!”

Hardly! My other blog is something I am putting together (along with Facebook and Twitter pages) to help people in the communities around the area where I live know what events are going on around here. I got tired of feeling left out of the loop, so I just decided to BE the loop. If that makes any sense.

For those of you who are curious as to what all this hard work has accomplished:

A princess with no recollection of the past eight years. War on the horizon.

Who to trust? Who to save?

Sixteen-year-old Janir Caersynn Argetallam wakes, sore and disoriented in the home city of her people, surrounded by relatives who seem concerned for her well-being. As she tries to recover, the Argetallams’ allies, the Stlavish, prepare to unleash a magical relic of untold power against the Argetallams’ age-old enemies, the Brevians. Janir watches silently from the sidelines until she meets a warrior elf and a strange wizard-boy who claim to know her and make her feel…confused. They claim that everything she’s been told is a lie, that her memories were stolen at the command of her father, the Lord Argetallam. As the eve of Brevia’s destruction draws closer, Janir finds herself with the power to stop the Stlavish. Conflicted and confused, she must decide whether she will allow Brevia to be conquered or if she will betray her father and destroy the relic—the Chalice of Malvron…

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t wait to get my eyes on it. 🙂

Only problem is I kinda promised Lonnie that I would read the other ebooks in my ‘pile’ before getting anything new. So as soon as this is out I need one of y’all to read it and tell me that it’s as good as I think it is. OK??? Please?!?

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Time to tell you about the raffle!

Elisabeth has set up an awesome array of prizes. First of which is a $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The other 8 winners will receive one of 8 books (some ebooks, some paperback).

About this author:

Elisabeth Wheatley is a high school student homeschooled in the Texas Hill Country. When she’s not daydreaming of elves, vampires, or hot guys in armor, she is reading copious amounts of fantasy, playing with her little brothers, studying mythology, and training and showing her Jack Russell Terrier, Schnay.

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You can get hold of her in several ways. The hard part is choosing whether to just use one, or all. 🙂

Following the plot points toward a finished novel. There’s still a long way to go yet, but it’ll get there. 🙂

I spent an entire hour in front of the computer for two days now, working on my book I Killed Them, Mama. Out of all that writing I am happy with a single page. One page! *grrr* I will keep plugging away, but that was disappointing.

On this same note, as an incentive for more likes on my Facebook page I have decided (a while ago) to post a new excerpt there when we have reached 100 likes. So far it has not made much of a difference in things, but we will see what happens.

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In other news on that book, I was reminded of the existence of that pretty flower called Digitalis. This could be the poison she uses to put her Father-in-Law out of his misery…maybe a mix of that and antifreeze? Or perhaps using Vitamin A overdose to get him to the doctor for a checkup, the digitalis to make his heart/blood pressure a little funky, then a good dose of antifreeze the day before his cardiogram?

Just thinking out loud here. More research is definitely needed.

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After several days of pointedly setting aside half an our to read it I have reached the 407th page of The Help (out of 522 pages). It has picked up. I am now rather invested in what happens to Minny, and curious whether Hilly gets what seems to be coming to her. This could get interesting… 🙂

A car full of people recently traveled nearly the entire breadth of Oregon to attend the Living Proof conference in Eugene.

This is my conference booklet. Photo was take at my seat in the Matthew Knight Arena. We just about packed the place.

The speaker was Beth Moore, and the subject was Time. It was very cool, and a little overwhelming. It will certainly take a few days to process all the little epiphanies she inspired.

The final count on the first evening was that 7,300 women (and a few brave men) were in attendance. Wow! There were certainly a whole lot of people there, but everyone was Sooo polite!

Here are a couple photos of the landscape we traveled through.

The worlds largest juniper forest is spread over the middle of Oregon

Snow capped mountains in the distance.

My mom and the lovely lady who did the driving managed to find a waterfall for me so I could take some photos. It was rather chilly in the shade of all the trees, but well worth the trek.

Sahalie Falls

The rainbow at the base of the falls

Look at all that moss! It’s a pretty, pretty place.

I would have taken more photos except my camera was brought along without forethought into how the batteries were doing.

Here’s a photo of some of the crowd at the conference.

This was taken during a music portion of the second day.

I tried to get a snap of the people on the stage, but my camera would not handle all the lights.

It was a trip well worth taking. Not only for the conference, but I was able to reconnect with an acquaintance from years back (furthering the acquaintance into a friendship), and also make new friends. Hooray for new Facebook friends! 🙂

Little Details

Stealing Makes Bad Ju-Ju!

We all know that everything I write is Amazing and Awesome. I get informed of that fact several times a day by my second personality.
Just remember that what I have written here is Mine. I hate to go all two-year-old on you, but that's my hard work and it's staying mine.

Now if you see something on here that's just cooler than eskimo snot, and you just Have to use it somewhere in your life, please let me know and I'll see if we can work something out (actually, my lawyer will tell me if we can work something out).